In the past two decades, the United States has witnessed the rising power of religious voices in the political arena. Unlike many European nations, the U.S. has not followed the expected trajectory of the secularization thesis; instead the degree to which religion continues to play a role both socially and politically, and further, in terms of federal policy, is noteworthy. In both 1996 and 2000, proposals encouraging partnerships between government and faith-based providers of social services were introduced and debated in the House of Representatives. In 1996, the Charitable Choice Amendment, following significant debate and a Presidential veto, was passed into law. This paved the way for the debates of 2000, which involved President George W. Bush’s proposed Faith-Based Bill. Although the Faith-Based Bill was never signed into law by the Senate, it did eventually become a feature of the federal government via an Executive Order; a Presidential tool exercised to dictate policy. The entry of these two religiously oriented measures into federal practice will be the primary subject matter of this paper. In order to understand the events of 1996 and 2000, the proposals themselves will be detailed, the manner in which they were proposed in Congress will also be examined, and the ensuing Congressional debates will be presented. In addition, the rising power of religion, especially in the Republican Party will be considered in contrast to the current “secular” or “non-religious” rhetoric of the Democratic Party. Finally, these developments and political alignments will be placed in the overall context of America’s current political reality. Considering these two religiously oriented policy measures helps to shed light on the continued importance of religion in both the public and private spheres in the United States, and on the applicability of the overarching secularization debates in the U.S. case.
